Clunk . . . bang . . . nothing . . bugger

[sandyian]

bugger bugger bugger !! Do you know ho wembarressing it is being towed away by a Rodeo !!! haha

I was out in my 2003 auto Disco with my little brother having a play on some tracks, reasonably steep slippery rocky road and then a couple of little clunk bang type noises and no drive to the front wheels. Bad place to get stuck too. Took us 1 1/2 hours to get it back down the 20 mts incline, but we did it with no injuries and no more damage so that's great. Low range 1st gear with centre diff locked at the time.

Any ideas ?? Reasonably new to LR's, previous was an 80 series Landrcruiser but love my Disco. Chose to drive it home, but had to have the centre diff lock locked otherwise there was no drive, all the power just went to the front, but there was no bad noises as we drove it that made me feel we should have left it there or towed it home.

With it at my parents house in Toowoomba I have to decide whether to drive it back to Brisbane or not with the family.

With it jacked up in the front, put it in drive and try to drive forward the front drive shafts to the front diff spins fine, but the cars stays put so power is lost somewhere between the front diff and the wheels. With the front jacked if I spin either front wheel the other wheel does nothing where normally it should spin the opposite way shouldn't it ??? SO front diff or front axle or something else ??

Any checks I can do to narrow it down ?? I have to back in Brisbane tomorrow morning to work so need to decide what to do ??

Thanks
Ian

[chazza]

I am no expert Ian, but it might be the driveflange on one of the front wheels has stripped its splines. With the wheel off the flange can be seen with a circle of bolts holding it on to the hub. It is easily removed so that the splines can be checked; common wear problem is rust on the splines, which can be prevented with Loctite Anti-seize,

Cheers Charlie

[abaddonxi]

Snapped an axle?

Or something nasty in the diff housing.

Cheers
Simon

[sandyian]

Thanks for the replies guys. Ok, this is an embaressing question to ask but I can't get the front wheel off ?? Lugs all off but the wheel isn't coming off. Every other car I've owned you take the wheel lugs off and the wheel comes off, easy, but not this one ???

Trying to check what Charlie said but . . . . .

So . . . . . to drive back to Brisbane or not ?? I need to diagnose a bit more yet to make that decision. It drove fine for the 10ks from where it got stuck to here.

Ian

[Scouse]

Alloy wheels can 'grow' onto the steel hubs. Remove all the nuts & give the inside of the tyre a hit with a rubber mallet. That should get it off.
Be prepared though, it might take a few bit hits to move it.

Once it's off, give the hub a going over with a wire brush then coat the centre area with a smear of copper grease. Do the rest of the wheels too.

If the mallet method fails, there is a more drastic method but that's only a last resort.

[Bigbjorn]

Don't put copper grease on aluminium!!!!!!! The aluminium will start to disappear. Use Loctite nickel or silver antiseize, and also on the wheel studs.

[sandyian]

Ok wheels off, what next ??? Seems to be in the right front wheel, if I spin it with the gearbox in gear then there's a little movement on the driveshaft from the transfer case to the front diff but it quickly slips allowing the front right wheel to free wheel with no drive to the left wheel of drive shaft.

[sandyian]

Ok, the problem is somewhere between but not inclusive of the front uni joint from the driveshaft to the diff and the CV's. Spin either front wheel and the cv spins past the cv joint rubber boot into the axle but the opposite front wheel can be held preventing that opposite wheel from spinning while we continue to turn the wheel by hand. This is while the gearbox is in park so the front driveshaft is not spinning. Shouldn't the opposite wheel spin if we turn one wheel by hand ??

So I'm guessing axles or diff centre ???

Would anyone drive the car 100kms with these symptoms ???

Ian

[PhilipA]

Underneath, the front axle has open swivels with the c.v. joints in rubber boots.

AFAIR I think you can see whether the axle is turning by just looking underneath near the hub as the UV yokes are open.

If you can grab one or put a screwdriver in the yoke, you should be able to see if there is movement in the axle.
I remember looking at it and thinking it was a retro step from RRC and Disco 1,as sticks could break the boot.
Regards Philip A

[abaddonxi]

Unless you have a front diff lock, I think your wheels should be doing that - without a diff lock all of the action goes to the wheel with the least load.

Drop some oil out of the diff and see if there are any chunks.

Pull off the endcaps of the drive members and see if you can see any trouble.

Get the wheels off the ground, onto full lock in both directions and see if there is any exciting clunking when you turn the wheels.

If you are going to drive it, drop off the front prop shaft. Remember to mark the join.

Check that you haven't stripped the splines on the propshaft yoke.

Ah, that sounds like a possibility.

Cheers
Simon